


luck be a lady in a library

by hulklinging



Series: Sapphic Somewhere [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Library, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 12:24:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8161987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hulklinging/pseuds/hulklinging
Summary: Erica Bittle works at the university library. The most difficult part of the job is the boredom... until the cute girl starts coming in.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This went so off-prompt I don't even think I should put the prompt here.
> 
> I might write more in this 'everyone is a lady' verse because I came up with TONS OF BACKSTORY I DIDN'T NEED about everyone, including people who don't even appear in this, so. Yeah.

Erica Bittle is not afraid of hard work.

She's a good southern girl, and she knows how to put her shoulder to the proverbial wheel in order to get what she wants.

Sure, she's got a bit of a procrastination problem when it comes to schoolwork, but that has nothing to do with the work of it and more to do with the possibility of not knowing the answer.

So, it's not the work at her new job that is the problem.

It's that the late shift at the university library can be really, really boring.

She makes herself wait until there's at least five books in her 'Returns' bin before she lets herself scan them in and put them away, because otherwise on slow nights she'll do them as they come in. It doesn't actually make the time pass any faster, and it's just not a practical system, besides.

This has the unfortunate side effect of seeing someone with an armful of books heading her way fill her with excitement, but she thinks she's pretty good at hiding this kind of embarrassing fact.

To combat the boredom, she buys herself a cute new notebook and takes to copying recipes out of old cookbooks. She could just use the photocopier, but she likes to colour code the recipes and edit them or add suggestions as necessary, and it's something to do. Four nights of the week, this is where Erica Bittle can be found, perched on a stool behind the library desk, one earbud in, flipping through cookbooks that are probably older than her. Sometimes she thinks about maybe looking for a more high-paced job, but after a long day of practice and classes, it's nice to know there's a bit of downtime in her future, even if she does sometimes creep herself out, being the only person in the library. One of her teammates made a joke about it being haunted, and she only remembers this fact when she's there alone, it seems.

"Ooookay, Erica," she murmurs to herself as she's locking the doors behind her after one particularly jumpy night. "You are officially banned from the supernatural section."

Going without a job isn't an option, either. She may be here on a scholarship, but skating equipment ain't cheap. Neither are baking supplies, which she knows aren't technically necessary, but if she's being honest she finds her little dorm to be kind of... lonely. Claustrophobic. One of the older girls on the skating team lets her use her co-op's oven, as long as she bakes them a pie or two a week. It's a small price to pay to have access to a kitchen, and Erica likes listening to the girl and her friends chat around her. It helps with the weird feeling of isolation that she's got going on. She could shop around for clubs to join, but she doesn't really have the time. And speed skating is a team sport but it's not a _team_ sport, not really. The baking helps. If she has to bake her way into the hearts of the student body one mini pie at a time, she will.

It's still pretty early in the semester. She's got time, and this homesickness will go away soon. Anyway, it's a small price to pay to be here, a place where she sees girls holding hands with girls on a daily basis, where the Pride Society is one of the bigger student groups on campus. Erica doesn't have to worry about accidentally letting her eyes linger, here. And that's worth every little pit in the ice.

She's daydreaming on the job again. She snaps herself out of it, and checks her watch. During exam periods, the library switches to being open twenty four hours, but right now they close at twelve. Earlier, if no one's here. And it's still early enough in the year that even Erica isn't behind on her schoolwork yet. So logically tonight should be one of those early nights.

Except there's one student tucked into one of the study cubicles. Erica doesn't even see them at first, but she's putting some books back and spots her. She tries not to be annoyed with the person on sight. Instead, she turns up her classic Bittle charm and goes to let them know that they're closing soon.

"Hello?"

They jump, and look up at Erica with tired (bright, stunning blue) eyes.

"Sorry, is it already twelve?"

 _Oh no,_ Erica thinks, frozen. _She's gorgeous._

Dark hair pulled back into a tidy ponytail, which only accents her ridiculous cheekbones even more. She's got long fingers with a few little white scars sprinkled across them, and Erica has the strange urge to compare their hands. She's sure her hands would look tiny and childish next to this girl's. In fact, Erica feels like a child next to her already. She suppress the instinct to tug at her braids, because that won't help at all.

This girl looks so tired.

"Oh no, you're fine. Still another half hour, don't you worry. I was just making sure you hadn't gone and fallen asleep."

The girl's brow furrows. Lord, she's pretty. Erica should have kept her distance.

"Why would I be asleep in the library?"

How does she tell this stunning girl that the library is often occupied by normal humans who nod off over their late homework, that they were unused to having beautiful well-built demigoddesses gracing their study cubicles?

She had been shelving things in the Ancient History section. It's not her fault that she's waxing a little poetic.

"You know college students, they'll fall asleep asleep anywhere." Erica points at the huge book in front of the girl. It's probably as big as her whole torso. "Bit of light reading?"

The girl blinks. "Yeah."

Oh. Awkward.

She reaches up to tuck an errant bit of hair behind her ear. Erica doesn't stare.

"My house is just... really loud, sometimes. It's easier to just come here."

"Right!" This is a disaster. Abort, abort. "Well, if you need anything, I'll just be... over there."

"Thanks?" The girl looks confused, but she goes back to her book and Erica beats a hasty retreat. Well, that was mortifying. The girl leaves soon after, and Erica watches her go while trying to pretend to not notice at all.

Goodness, she's a nice person to watch walk away.

 

She finds out her name when she sees her return a book. Which sounds kind of creepy, but it is Erica's job to keep an eye on the people in the library, and the people returning books, and if she happens to go over to the Returns bin the moment she sees the girl drop a book into the slot, and there's only two books in there so it's obvious which one the girl returned.

She scans it in, because that's work.

Jacqueline Zimmermann. Jacqueline.

Erica hums along to Beyonce and definitely doesn't think about Jacqueline and when she'll be back.

 

Fridays are her least favourite days, work-wise. She's had a long day of class and she knows she has early rehearsal the next morning, and people are always a little bit louder on Fridays. Usually they disappear off to have fun early, which is the only plus.

She's searching for a particularly stubborn book that should be here but isn't where it's supposed to be, and the grad student who needs sounded like they were going to cry over the phone, so she's on her tiptoes the natural sciences section, trying to reach high enough to tug at what _might_ be a small pamphlet on the evolution and cultivation of edible mushrooms in a country she's never heard of before stuck in the shelving when a booming voice makes her jump and lose her balance.

"Jack! I know you're hiding in here! It's Friday, you're not allowed to spend your whole weekend in here!"

She really shouldn't have been standing on the shelf. Down she goes in a miniature avalanche of books. It's very dramatic looking, she's sure, although it hurts her pride more than anything.

"Holy shit," says a voice that is much closer to her than before, although still just as loud. "You alive in there?"

"I'm fine!" Erica pushes the books off her and stands up, face bright red. She ignores the hand the person was offering her, instead placing her hands on her hips and glaring up at them. They've got a big goofy smile, chin-length hair, a pin that reads 'she/her' and a shirt proclaiming that she's got 99 problems and the patriarchy is all of them. The shirt is long enough on her that Erica can't tell if she's wearing anything underneath. She desperately hopes she is. The library already had its share of streakers in the first week.

"Were you climbing on the shelves?" asks the very loud possibly-half-naked student.

"...Yes."

"Don't they have a ladder or something? Climbing the shelving units can't be library policy, brah."

"Says the person yelling in a library!"

This gets a laugh out of her. Before she can say anything else, Jacqueline comes up behind her, and Erica can just feel her face getting even redder. Perfect.

"She works here, Shitty. You should listen to her."

"I wasn't _not_ listening to her, I was just saying she should be careful about falling off shelves. Also, you are in trouble, young lady." Shitty (is that really her name?) jabs her finger at Jacqueline (Jack?)'s chest, which makes Erica look at her chest, which makes Erica die a little inside, because now she really is being creepy. She busies herself with picking up the books she's gone and knocked off the shelves.

Shitty is still telling off Jack for hiding from a party she's supposed to be attending back at 'the Haus', and Erica has really eavesdropped enough. She'll come back (with the step stool) to get the pamphlet after they're gone.

"What were you trying to grab?"

She turns back around, because Jack is talking to her. She wonders where her accent is from. It's weird, but... unfairly attractive. Like everything about this girl.

"Huh?" She can hear her mother's sigh from here. "I mean, pardon?"

Jack's stare is kinda intense. "What book were you trying to reach?"

"Oh." She points at the corner sticking out from the back of the shelving. Why they have shelves with half the backs open is beyond her, honestly. "That."

Jack reaches up and easily pulls the pamphlet from where it's been stuck for who-knows-how-long. Easy as that, because she's a giant.

"There you go," says Jack, and hands it to her. A quick glance at the cover shows that it's exactly what the grad student was looking for, too.

"Thanks." Erica goes to take it, and for a moment they're both holding onto the pamphlet, hands almost touching. Jack's eyes give her a quick once over, and her mouth opens and oh goodness if she asks her out right here or something she'll have to pinch herself because it will be much too similar to some meet-cute from one of MooMaw's romance novels, except her grandmother would never be reading about two girls-

"You should eat more protein."

All daydreams disappear in an instant.

"Excuse me?"

"To get taller."

She tugs the pamphlet out of Jack's hand and now it's her turn to gesture angrily at the taller girl. "I am perfectly capable of making my own dietary decisions, thank you very much, and I don't need advice from some statuesque..." Shit, she hadn't meant to say that. She waves the pamphlet at Jack in a way she hopes conveys the enormity of her annoyance. "...I don't need advice from someone who probably wouldn't know good food if it bit them!"

She can't tell if the stunned look on both of the girls' faces is because of her spectacularly (ha) insults or because when she gets angry her accent gets a little thick. She'll just pretend it's the former.

"Please leave the library," she says firmly, slipping back into her 'working' voice.

Shitty tugs at Jack's arm. "Let's go, dude."

She watches them leave, still beet red at the whole mess of an interaction.

"I know good food," she can hear Jack say.

"Let it go."

"What did she mean by statuesque?"

A loud sigh. "I love you, but you have literally no game."

Erica definitely does not stomp back to the desk, and she absolutely does not waste the rest of the night going over every part of the conversation.

 

She does take to wearing her wedge sneakers to work. Simply out of spite.

It does actually mean she has to use the step stool less. But that's more of an added bonus than anything else.

 

Erica comes in for a shift the next week a few minutes late. It's one of those days where nothing has gone her way, and her apology is already spilling out of her lips as she runs through the doors.

Jean Jeanson, who she didn't even think was working today, waves the apology away. "These things always happen when people are running late. It's more interesting to tell this part of the story when someone's still catching their breath."

Jean has read almost all of the books in the creative writing section, and talks like this one hundred percent of the time, as far as Erica can tell. Still, she's not annoyed with her, so Erica is not about to complain. She jumps right in to work, trying to make up for her tardiness.

"Did you scan this in yet?" she asks, picking up a book behind the counter. It's one of those big history books, and she can't help wondering if it was Jack who returned it.

Jean shakes her head, flipping through a notebook full of scrawled text. "No, that one's for you."

Erica doesn't bother asking for clarification, just flips through the book to check for any forgotten flashcards. There is something, tucked in with the back cover. A little note on plain lined paper.

_Hello,_

_Sorry for the other week. I've been told I was... tactless. Would you like to get coffee sometime? To make up for it._

_\- Jack_

Erica blinks down at the little piece of paper. There's a few things crossed out, making it look longer than it actually is. There is also a phone number at the bottom.

It was so... endearing.

"It's not even addressed to me," she says out loud. "How did she know I would get it?"

"That's what I'm here for," Jean says, because of course she is listening. "It's literally my entire function in the plot."

Well, Erica has nothing to say to that.

She does know what to say to Jack's invite, so she tackles that instead.

 _This is Erica, the girl from the library!_ Her fingers hover over the keyboard for a moment. _Coffee sounds good. I know a place._

Erica adds a :) and hits send.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You can reblog it [here](http://hulklinging.tumblr.com/post/151095417803/would-you-do-consider-doing-the-second-library-au).


End file.
